A.N. (5/16/21) - A bit shorter compared to previous chapters, and some of it is going into new territory.
Chapter 3 - Tokyo Surprise
I was in a familiar place.
The sight that greeted me upon opening my eyes was a black world entirely void of anything. Words couldn't properly describe where I was, only that it was a place between dream and reality. That was something that I was able to tell intuitively.
I didn't understand why I was here, only that I knew this wasn't the first time I came here.
A voice suddenly spoke up.
"Hm, it's lucky that you were able to regain access to this place through the Rutile."
Suddenly, a flood of memories comes back to me.
"The you in reality is currently fast asleep. You are only experiencing this as a dream."
That voice… I knew it. I heard this voice before.
"But it's still not enough. You really messed up your mind when you pulled off that stunt last time. Granted, you managed to appease the hidden hour between worlds because of it. But if the seal of the Black Wings is removed, that bandage of yours won't be able to work anymore."
I somehow knew what he was talking about. Memories of a clock tower, of a group of others fighting alongside me, came to mind. Yet, I couldn't speak.
"Luckily for you, I decided you needed a hand. When you wake up, follow the other guide."
Confused at what the voice was talking about, I was surprised when an ear-splitting klaxon began wailing.
"The bell is ringing, and the final hour approaches. I'll see you on the 'other side' when the time comes."
Everything faded as the dream ended.
~ Part 1: Tokyo ~
Nagi woke up with a gasp.
The rumble of the subway car causes him to blink as he notices his surroundings. Seated at the moment, he takes into account the crowd of people around him as the scenery outside the window shows an unfamiliar landscape.
A perfectly normal scene.
Except there was one problem. He had no memory of boarding such a train.
"W-Where am I?"
He almost listened to his first instinct of jumping out of his seat and looking around wildly. Forcing himself to calm down, he tried to remember how he got here.
Nagi recalled going to school and talking with a few of his friends. Daisuke had informed him that he was going to be busy with another heist later that night, but was told by him that Nagi didn't need to join him this time. Apparently, it was going to be a simple job since there wasn't going to be any police presence due to the owner deciding that it was unnecessary.
But then during lunch, Saehara suddenly announced to the class the fact that the person Dark was going to steal from wasn't going to stop Dark from stealing his artwork.
Suddenly interested, Risa had taken Saehara somewhere to interrogate him about what he knew. Getting a bad feeling, Nagi had decided to follow after them.
After learning that there weren't going to be any police forces after Dark, Risa decided that this was the perfect opportunity to meet up with him and spend time together. So obviously, she thought it would be a perfect idea to meet up with him while he was on the heist.
After that…
He winced as a headache cut off his thoughts. The memories of what happened after that were gone.
"Let's focus on what I know," he muttered to himself. "I'm wearing my school uniform, but I'm in a place I don't recognize. Taking into consideration the fact that I'm on a train, did I head here directly after school?"
No, that didn't sound right. Why would he decide to suddenly board a train to head to a destination he's never been to before?
Checking his possessions, Nagi didn't find much.
A wallet with a small amount of cash.
Some snacks he got from school earlier that day.
His uncle's phone number on a piece of paper in case of emergencies.
The replica Rutile hanging off a chain on his neck.
And finally...
"Why is this in my pocket?"
A single black feather.
Nagi recognized it. After all, he's seen Dark and Daiki using it countless times whenever they needed to use magic. There were times when even Nagi used it, especially during those first few weeks when he started out learning magic.
But why was it here?
He was still confused, but Nagi began to form an idea of what was going on.
While unclear as to what extent, his memories were missing before waking up on the train. The only possessions he had on himself were the items he carried in his most recent memory. He was still wearing his school uniform, so it was probably safe to say that he only lost the memories of what happened in the last few hours.
Currently, he was on a train he had no memory boarding riding past a landscape he did not recognize.
The entire situation was abnormal, but maybe that was a clue in and of itself.
After all, there was one thing that brought to mind situations that exceeded the bounds of normality.
"Magic," he realized. "I'm involved in something with magic."
Or he suddenly developed a mental condition that caused short-term memory loss. But judging by his luck, it was probably the former instead.
Then this probably has something to do with Dark. Otherwise, why else would Nagi have one of his feathers when he hasn't carried them around in so long?
Nagi tried to dig through his memories of what might exactly be the cause of this.
"Okay, I'm pretty sure none of the artifacts the Niwa family collected are capable of causing this."
So by that line of thinking, this must be the work of a magical artwork that wasn't theirs.
"Dark was planning on stealing a new artwork yesterday."
He even remembered Daisuke telling him about how he scouted the place the night before to check the condition of the target.
"Arguably, this could also be the work of some other magical artwork that I don't know about. But let's follow Occam's Razor and say that this is the effect of whatever artwork Dark was supposed to steal."
The train began to slow to a stop, and Nagi realized that he was already at his destination. Exiting at a station, he quickly exited with the large crowd of people and began making his way outside. Once he made his way up the stairs and out of the station, he found himself in a place that looked to be part of a large metropolitan city.
This was definitely not Azumano.
"Seriously, where is this place?"
Seeing a police officer nearby, Nagi walks up to him. The man gives him an annoyed look as he gets closer, but Nagi ignored it for now.
"Excuse me, can you please tell me where I am? I'm a little lost."
"You're in the Aoyama district."
He blinked at that.
"Aoyama? Like the neighborhood in Minato, Tokyo?"
The police officer nodded at that.
"Do you need any assistance?"
He thought about it.
"Yeah, can you please tell me where the nearest payphone is? I need to make a call."
The other man blinked at his words.
"Payphone? Not sure where any of those are around here, but you can just borrow my phone if you need to call someone."
"Thanks."
The officer pulled something from his pocket and handed it over to Nagi. Staring at the object in his hand, he looked back up towards the officer with a confused look on his face.
"This is a smartphone."
A smartphone in the year 2003?
"Yeah? What of it?"
"N-Nothing."
Realizing that something was very wrong, he used it to call his uncle's number and waited for the call to pick up. When the robotic voice replied that the number was out of service, that was when he started to realize that this situation was a lot more complicated than he thought.
Especially when he took a look at the date displayed on the home screen, which displayed a date that was definitely not what he was expecting.
"Officer, this may be a weird question, but what year is it right now?"
"That is a weird question." The man gave him a confused look at that. "Right now, it's the year 2023."
2023 — twenty years in the future.
And finally, Nagi realized exactly what was going on. At that moment, he suddenly recalled exactly what artwork Dark was going to steal. After all, there were only two artworks he knew that had the ability to time travel. Only one of them could send someone to the future.
The Eternal Guide.
"What's wrong?"
Nagi stumbles away from the police officer and begins to run off into the distance.
This is the future, he thinks to himself. And I'm stuck here with no memories of how I got here.
Luckily, he still remembered this particular episode. Because of some magical shenanigans between Dark and Krad, Daisuke had to travel to the future to save the captured spirits of those who were caught in the battle.
But how did I get in here? Did I get caught up in the battle as well?
Finally taking a break, he paused as he leaned against a wall to take a break.
"I-I need to find Daisuke," he pants. "He'll probably know how to get us out of here."
Something catches his attention.
Looking up, Nagi was surprised when he noticed a beautiful blue butterfly slowly hovering before him. The butterfly continues to fly in front of him even as it begins to move in a certain direction.
"When you wake up, follow the other guide."
The words suddenly came to him, even though Nagi had no idea who said it. Lost in his thoughts, he was unaware of the fact that his replica Rutile was softly glowing as its power began to work.
Staring at the blue butterfly, he realized that it was waiting for him.
"Are you my guide?"
The butterfly begins flying off after he said that. Unsure as to what it wants, Nagi begins to follow it.
He wasn't sure how long he followed the ethereal being, but soon, he found himself in front of a large building. Looking at the sign next to it, his confusion shows on his face.
"The Cultural Revival Association?"
Looking back, he realized that the butterfly that led him here had somehow disappeared. Staring at the building again, he realizes that he's supposed to enter it.
"Well, I guess I won't get any answers just standing out here. Hopefully, I'll find out exactly what makes this place so important."
Resolving himself, he began to make his way into the building.
~ Part 2: Future ~
He was in a museum.
Entering the building, Nagi found himself taking a tour of the place. He wasn't the only one either, as other visitors were taking a look at the various pieces of art being displayed. Not sure exactly what he was supposed to look for, Nagi began to follow their example and act as just another visitor visiting the museum.
Reading the plaques on various works of art, Nagi began noticing a trend.
Peace and Harmony — restored in 2006.
Prophecy of The Fall — restored in 1996.
Euphelia's Nightscape — restored in 2005.
Statue of Neptune — restored in 2011.
"These artworks," he muttered. "They've all been damaged or replaced at some point."
And reading the plaques more carefully, Nagi noticed that a lot of them seemed to have been damaged or destroyed within the past century or so.
"Are all these artworks from before the Cultural Reform?"
That was incredible. Looking around him for a few seconds, Nagi took out the Rutile from around his neck and held it in his palm. Closing his eyes and concentrating, he began to sense around for something.
He opened his eyes a few seconds later.
"They're real," he said with amazement. "All of these are the real deal, they're the genuine article."
Magic at its source was an accumulation of people's thoughts and emotions. As people continued to admire the beauty of various artworks, their thoughts and emotions would pour into those artworks, creating magical abilities within them.
Nagi was able to tap into that connection and feel for the accumulating magic contained within each object. So he was able to tell that all these artworks being displayed were the real deal. Works of arts that have accumulated a history of over a century.
"What is this place?"
Searching around, he found a stack of brochures and picked one out to read. Seeing that there was an introduction passage explaining the foundation of the museum, he began reading it for the next few minutes.
"Founded by the Kirijo Group in the early 1990s, the Cultural Revival Association (CRA) is tasked with restoring all the works of art that were destroyed during the events of the Cultural Revolution. As a newly established organization, the CRA has gained worldwide renown for its efforts in the restoration of numerous art pieces, giving birth to a new age of art appreciation and cultural admiration."
Nagi tilted his head at that.
"1990? But how come I've never heard of this place before?"
Reading on, he found his answer.
"The efforts of the CRA have only been recently revealed to the public as of the year 2020. Upon its recognition, several exhibitions have been opened to the public to display the numerous works of art restored by this organization."
He blinked at that.
"So I'm guessing that this place is more important than I thought."
But why was he led here? What was so important about this place that he needed to see it twenty years into his future?
"Actually, why am I here in the first place? Even if this was all because of Towa, how come I'm not in Azumano?"
As he was thinking, he continued to walk without a particular direction in mind. Because he was lost in his thoughts, he didn't notice the frantic woman running around the corner, causing the two to collide.
"Agh!" "Oof!"
Both of them collapse to the ground with a yelp, papers scattering in the air as the young woman loses her grip on them.
"Oh, gosh. I'm so sorry!"
Nagi quickly stands and helps the other woman up as well.
"No need to apologize, it's my fault too for not looking where I was going."
She bends down to pick up her papers, and Nagi helps her as she does so. Once the two gathered everything, Nagi finally takes note of the other woman's appearance.
She was a woman in her thirties with a beautiful appearance sporting a sheepish look on her face. Wearing simple but nice clothes, a lanyard hung around her neck indicating that she was an employee here.
"Sorry about that, I was trying to get away from my Auntie when I ran into you. Judging by the fact that she hasn't caught up to me yet, I think I lost her."
"Auntie?"
She laughed with a wry smile on her face.
"I'm basically my Auntie's gopher. My job is to help her out with various things like paperwork or ordering things."
A voice suddenly calls out.
"Miss Konno!"
Running towards them was a young girl in her late teens.
"Oh! Nana-chan, how are you?"
"Miss Konno, you're aunt is looking for you right now."
"Aw, tell that old witch I'm on my lunch break. I don't want to deal with her right now."
The other girl gave out a heavy sigh.
"Are you still arguing? It's been three days, shouldn't you learn to forgive her by now?"
Meanwhile, Nagi was staring at the two of them as they seemed to ignore his existence. He blinked when the older woman suddenly grabbed his shoulder.
"You know what, why don't you show this young man around for me. I need to apologize for running into him somehow, so take him out back and show him the good stuff."
"W-What?"
"Miss Konno, you can't seriously expect to leave now!"
"Too late, see ya later!"
Before the other girl could say anything, the older woman named Miss Konno quickly sped up and powerwalked away, leaving the two of them by themselves.
The girl gave out a loud sigh.
"Why is she always like this…"
"Um, are you okay?"
For the first time, the other girl seemed to finally take notice of Nagi. Her eyes widened once she caught sight of him, and for some strange reason her words came out as a stuttering mess.
"N-N-Na…"
"Na?"
"N-Na... Nice to meet you." She calmed herself and forced an awkward smile on her face. "I apologize for the actions of Miss Konno. She's a good worker, but you have to realize that she still acts half her age most of the time."
"I guess?"
She gestured behind her.
"Why not take up on her offer? Miss Konno may have said that to get away from me, but she's not wrong. As an apology for our conduct, I can show you several of our exhibits that aren't open to the public yet."
That caused him to blink in surprise.
"Are you sure? It seems unconventional..."
"It's quite an experience," she interrupted. "Besides, we often have several college students visit the restricted areas anyway, so you won't look out of place if I show you around."
Her offer still seemed strange to him. By appearances, he was just some random middle school kid that her coworker ran into. It was a bit weird that he was suddenly offered the chance to enter the areas normally not allowed to the general public.
But then again, there must be a reason why he was led here.
"Alright, fine. That sounds like it'll be fun."
She smiled at that.
"Great, then I'll show you around. You'll love it, we have the best displays out back."
As Nagi followed after her, he didn't notice as something strange occurred once he passed by a nearby clock. The digital display suddenly glitched as something affected it.
4̷̣͍̈́8̷̰̗̾̅:̶̤̳̰̅̃̂0̶̬̯̀̇ͅ1̴͕̙͗̽̈
4̷8̷͖̾̊:̵͉͝0̴͈̌0̴̟͍̎͊
4̴̭͗7̶̗̊̕:̸̦͎͐5̵̤̈͜9̵̠͆̏
Not noticing the change, Nagi continued on while unaware.
}-{
"So, you're just interning here for the summer?"
"Yup," the other girl replied. "I'm staying with my relatives in Tokyo while I'm working here. The Cultural Revival Association is extremely well known, so having their name on my work history is going to open a lot of doors even if I'm not exactly an art major."
The two of them finished looking at another display before moving to another section.
"Huh, that sounds nice. Are you a college student?"
"I am," she answered. "Todai if you can believe it."
"Really? That's amazing."
She shrugged her shoulder.
"My big brother and a few other friends I know used to go there as well. It's mostly thanks to their help that I managed to get in."
Nagi smiled as the two of them continued to talk. It was nice that the other girl spoke to him as an equal, even though she was quite a few years older than him. The topics they discussed were also interesting, ranging from education to some of the artworks on display.
Passing by another exhibit, he paused as he took a good look at what was being displayed.
Nagi caught his breath.
It was an unfinished painting, that was clear to him. But the images depicted on the canvas told him that something about it was special.
A storm of black feathers was descending in a spiraling manner around a large ominous tower. The full moon hanging in the sky above was a bright yellow amidst green skies. Combined, the composition of the painting gave off an ominous feeling.
"Wow…"
The other girl noticed him looking at the painting.
"Ah, so you've also been enchanted by our latest work." She gave it a soft smile. "The original painting was made several centuries ago, during a time of fear and despair. This is merely a replica. Or at least one in the workings."
"What's it called?"
She hummed at that.
"Nobody knows, its name was lost to time. Some say that its name was forgotten after the events of the Cultural Reform, but others say that its name was never revealed even before that. But two particular titles have been attributed to it in place of its original name."
"And those are?"
"Hidden Hour," she answered. "And the Wings of Night."
A soft hum began to fill the air as Nagi realized that Dark's feather was glowing in his pocket.
"The title of the Hidden Hour was attributed to it because of its relation to another famous work of art," the girl began to lecture. "Noted in history by the author Kyle Endoyle, his records detailing the painting were lost during the censorship of the Cultural Reform. In truth, we believe that the second title, the Wings of Night, is more likely to be closer to the actual name of the painting."
Something in Nagi's chest was beating. As if a long-lost memory was trying to rise from deep within his subconsciousness.
"But speaking as an admirer of the arts," she suddenly turned around to look at him. "Why did this particular painting catch your eye?"
Nagi was at a loss of words for a second.
For some reason, the question shook him. Something about the way she asked it told Nagi that this wasn't merely making conversation. She was expecting a serious answer out of him for some reason, and Nagi had the feeling that giving a frivolous answer wasn't going to cut it.
"...I thought it looked weird."
She hummed at that but continued to ask.
"What about it looks weird?"
He blushed as the answer came to mind, but he was embarrassed at the thought of voicing it out loud.
"...ld… re ...ue."
"What was that?"
His blush grew.
"I said there should be more blue."
She giggled at his answer, and Nagi suddenly felt mortified for some reason.
"Well, some people would say that colors with similar tones would clash together, but an argument could be made that blue and green works well together under the right conditions."
She suddenly gave him a brilliant smile.
"That's a nice answer, Nagi."
He wasn't even surprised at that point.
"So you know who I am."
"Yup." She giggled again. "I've known you for most of my life, so of course I'd recognize you even if you've somehow regressed to a teenager's body."
So she was someone from his future, otherwise, it wouldn't make sense. After all, she didn't look that much older than twenty, so it was doubtful that Nagi has even met her yet in his native time.
"Who are you?"
She held up a finger to her lips.
"Spoilers."
The feather in his pocket began to glow brighter, causing her to blink as she took notice of it.
"Huh, looks like time is running out. Guess we should get you back to your own time now."
"W-What?"
She suddenly grabbed his hand and began leading him outside the room.
"Don't worry, this isn't the first time we've dealt with cases involving time travel."
Exiting the building, she raised her free arm to wave at another person who started to walk towards them.
"Mister Tachibana!"
"Hey there, Nana-chan."
The person who greeted her was a young man several years older than her wearing a business suit. He had a handsome appearance and was quite tall. Glancing over to where Nagi stood, he gave him a warm smile.
"It's nice to see you again, Nagi-san."
"What?"
Was he also someone he met in the future?
"It's so strange seeing you so young," Tachibana says. "Judging by how old you are right now, you'll probably see me after a dozen years or so."
"No spoilers," the other girl - Nana-chan? - says with a pout. "We don't want to change things too much. Did you get the items from Chiaki?"
"How come you call him by his first name while still using my family name?" he complained as he brought something out of his pocket. "Here it is."
Tachibana hands over to Nagi a small object, and Nagi takes a closer look at what it is. A walnut-shaped object stares back at him, and he looks up with a confused look on his face.
"I have absolutely no idea what's going on."
The other two snickered at that.
"Nice to see it on the other end for once."
Before he could ask what that comment was about, the walnut-shaped object in his hand suddenly crumbled to dust. On his palm are several numbers that suddenly appear on his skin.
02:̸̦͎͐19̵͆
02:̸̦͎͐18'
"That should take care of your trip home," Tachibana says. "It's been nice seeing you."
"No kidding," the girl replies. "He's still just a kid, there's so much that hasn't happened to him yet."
A wave of exhaustion suddenly hits him.
"Oh, looks like the effects are already starting."
"W-What's going on."
"Don't panic, this is normal. Right now, your body is trying to figure out when exactly in time you're supposed to return to."
"You'll be physically entering the realm of the collective unconsciousness of mankind. Through it, you'll reemerge into your own time once your body locks on to the proper period."
Nagi's head was spinning as he started having difficulty differentiating who was talking.
"S-So I'm returning to the past?"
"Yup. Try not to get into situations like this too much in the future."
"I don't even know how this all started," he admitted. "I can't guarantee that something like this won't happen again."
"You'll do fine."
"You've never steered us wrong before, so we trust that you'll know what to do in case things go wrong."
And before Nagi could reply, he saw the numbers on his palm finally tick down.
0̵̖̓0̸͖͌:̵̱̏0̸̲̀2̸̥̌
0̴̾ͅ0̶͙̅:̴̞̍0̴͚̚1̵̖̾
0̴0:̸̈́00̸̐.
Soon afterward, his body disappeared.
~ Part 3: Flashback ~
One hour ago…
"—wa."
Daisuke slowly woke up with a pounding headache. His eyes tried to adjust from their current blurry state to a more working condition.
"Niwa!"
He finally realized that the face of Hiwatari was covering his vision.
"W-What happened?"
"I'm sorry," he replied. "Everything went wrong. It wasn't my intention to involve the two of them."
"Huh?"
Daisuke's eyes widen, and he hurriedly gets up. Looking over to his side, he caught sight of the collapsed forms of his two classmates.
"Miss Harada, Saehara!"
A voice speaks up.
"They're fine."
He finds Nagi leaning against a wall while holding something in his hands. To his surprise, Daisuke recognizes it as the artwork he was planning to take, the Eternal Guide.
"Well, I say they're fine. But that's only for now."
"What do you mean?"
"Ask Hiwatari, he already explained it to me while we waited for you to wake up."
The other boy grimaced.
"Yes, this is all due to the sealer's ore I used."
"Sealer's ore?"
"The black stone," he clarified. "I planned on using it to seal away Dark's magic so that the events of last time wouldn't happen again. Since it is compatible with the Eternal Guide, it should have worked. If only Krad hadn't come out…"
He winced again as he recalled what happened in the last few minutes.
Dark flying down and reaching their destination.
Hearing the voice of the other angel talking.
The two starting a conflict, both throwing their feathers around the room.
Suddenly, a brilliant light fills the room.
"Wait," Daisuke suddenly realizes something. "What happened to Dark?!"
He felt inside of himself and realized that the familiar presence of the artwork spirit was gone.
"The sealer's ore worked… a little too well. Not only has it taken the consciousness of Dark, but it also took both of Miss Harada's and Saehara's consciousnesses as well."
Nagi sighed from where he stood.
"I was lucky I was in the next room when all this happened. Otherwise, I might have been caught as well. Still, we need to do something about this."
"I already told you how we can fix this."
Daisuke blinked at what Hiwatari just said.
"Really? What should we do?"
"Find the sealer's ore, and destroy it."
"Where is the sealer stone?"
He glances over to where Nagi is and stares at the statue in his arms.
"The Eternal Guide should tell you that."
Nagi gave out a heavy sigh.
"I've been trying to talk to her since a while ago, but she told me she wanted to speak with you first."
Daisuke blinked.
"Her?"
"Yup," Nagi replied. "She's a nice girl. Prefers to be called Towa."
Hiwatari stood up.
"I should go. The two of you better hurry up, or you won't be able to get them back."
"Hiwatari..."
The boy leaves without saying another word.
}-{
Daisuke knew that magical artworks sometimes contained powerful spirits within them. So he really shouldn't have been surprised when the Eternal Guide also had an artwork spirit.
"Hello~!"
But it was still unexpected to see the statue suddenly transform into such a cute girl.
"So weird," Nagi muttered. "You're not just a spiritual being. You actually have a body that exists in the material plane. That's incredible."
"Oh, please. You're making me blush!" Towa giggles from where she was. "But you must admit, I'm much cuter in this form."
"You're… the Eternal Guide?" Daisuke said incredulously.
"Yup, but just call me Towa."
"Miss To—"
"Just Towa!"
She cut him off with a glare, before playfully blushing with her eyes closed.
"And I don't want you to use Missus like I'm some old lady, because I'm an innocent young girl who isn't even a hundred years old yet!"
Oh, great. We got a crazy one…
"Sorry to interrupt," Nagi began. "But we are on a timetable here. Can you please lead us to the location of the sealer's ore?"
"You promise to fulfill the conditions I gave you earlier?"
Daisuke looked at the two of them with a confused look on his face, but Nagi just waved his hand.
"Yeah, yeah, we promise."
"Alright then!"
She grabs both of their arms.
"Hold on boys, I'll be guiding you for just one way. You'll have to figure out how to get back on your own."
"Wait, what?"
But before Daisuke could ask her to clarify about that, the room was swallowed by a flash of light, and everyone disappeared.
}-{
An unknown place…
The figure of a young woman could be seen. A raging snowstorm surrounded her as she stared off into the distance.
"There is a disturbance in the timeline."
Even as her powers continued to weaken, there were still some things that she could feel. Such as that event that occurred four years ago, causing a temporal and spatial displacement that affected the entire world.
This was a smaller thing in comparison, but still, something to note.
"This feeling… so the current tamer of one-half of the Black Wings is involved. And it seems that the Eternal Guide is leading him in this endeavor."
She winced as she felt herself grow weaker.
"This world does not have much time. The awakening of the Black Wings is hastening this world's deterioration. This world only has a few months left at most."
She sighed and once more concentrated on observing the disturbance.
"Hm?"
Blinking in surprise, she focused on the other person that she felt. The person traveling with the tamer.
"This feeling, could it be…"
She couldn't believe it. There should have been no possible way for someone like that to exist.
Before she could check once more to see if it was her imagination, she suddenly sensed another disturbance. Only this time, it was a lot more serious than before.
This was the interference of a god.
"An administrator of the collective unconsciousness acting out now? Why would that be the case?"
To her surprise, she suddenly felt the person traveling with the tamer disappear from her sight, only to reappear a few seconds later.
"What was that?"
A similar event occurred only a couple of months ago, and that incident led to a paradigm shift to happen within the city. Now, another event was occurring?
She was completely confused about what was happening.
But then again, maybe that was a sign that the times were changing.
"Either way, it is not like as if I do anything about it."
Sighing to herself, the being known as the Second Hand of Time turned around and disappeared, the snowstorm continuing to rage around where she previously was.
}-{
Daisuke was panicking.
Somehow, they had lost Nagi during their transition to where the sealer's ore was. Towa had profoundly apologized, having no idea how she had lost his classmate during the transition. But Daisuke had forgiven her even as he worried that something bad was happening to his friend.
Then, right as he found the target he was looking for, some kid just grabbed it and ran off with the stone. Forcing Daisuke to chase after him across town.
Speaking of which…
"This town, I recognize this place."
"Not now, Daisuke." Towa continued to fly next to him in her bird form. "You must catch up to him before time runs out."
Daisuke grimaced at that. He learned from her that there was only one hour left until he wasn't able to save everyone anymore. If he wasn't able to grab the sealer's ore in time, then things were going to turn bad.
"Wait, this street. We're headed towards my home!"
Daisuke suddenly skidded to a stop as he found himself staring at his house only a few meters away from him. And then, his eyes caught sight of the woman standing outside.
She was so familiar in a way that it hurt. Someone who he has known his entire life, but so different from what he knew of her.
The woman smiled at him.
"I'm sorry for the trouble my grandson caused. He took something important to you, didn't he?"
Peeking behind her legs was the small boy from before, and finally, Daisuke noticed the stark red hair on the boy's head.
"Daichi, go apologize to the nice young man and give him back the stone."
The boy pouted but obeyed the woman. Walking up to Daisuke, he held out his hand.
"Here!"
Still completely in shock, Daisuke calmed himself as he kneeled to face the boy. If what he was seeing before him was real, then that meant the boy in front of him was…
"Thank you, this stone is really important to me."
He watched as his son nodded shyly before running back to hide behind the woman's leg. Looking up, Daisuke saw the warm smile on his mother's face.
"You have to go now, right?"
Daisuke nodded.
"Sorry, I have to go. I'm almost out of time."
She smiled before gesturing towards the boy behind her.
"Since this boy exists here, you'll definitely be able to go back."
Standing up, he bowed towards the two.
"Thank you once again."
Turning around, he started to walk away with a strange look on his face.
"Towa, this is…"
"The future, Master Daisuke. About twenty years into the future to be exact."
Then that really was his son and mother. This wasn't the first time he's dealt with time travel, but he's never been to the future before either.
"I-Is this all real?"
Towa was silent for a moment.
"It can be."
Before he could ask anything else, Towa suddenly flew up to his face.
"Now, smash the stone so that you can return to your own time."
Daisuke nodded, but not before giving one more glance back towards the house he just left.
The future, huh...
I was unsure whether or not I wanted to post Ch3 as a sidestory or not, since a lot of this chapter doesn't really fit into the DNAngel canon. But I decided to keep it as it is. This chapter was a lot different than usual since it delved into a lot of things outside of DNAngel. But don't worry, things will get back into the regular DNAngel side of things after this.
There's a scene in the anime where it's revealed that Towa used up all of her energy to send Daisuke to the future. But this problem was solved once Daisuke was able to transform into Dark and give her some of his energy through the power of a kiss-infusion of magical power (like every other romance anime problem). I skipped this because I didn't want to go through writing it and it didn't seem that necessary anyway.
Basically, this chapter revealed quite a lot about my plans for the future. I'm setting up the basics for a potential time-traveling story in the future, which is why I'm introducing a few characters. There are also some nods to the previous version if some of you are old readers.